Try finding a rug with red, black and white accents. I would reverse the locations of the sofa and chair. Maybe try mounting the TV on the wall. IKEA has some nice floating media storage.

I think I lived in this space in DC back in the '80's! lol! I divided it up with a similar solution.Your red is good so why not put it on the floor too? Find some black containers at IKEA to fill the bookcase. My son has one in his apartment in CA. The fillers will block the view into the bedroom and give you practical storage and less need to decorate the shelves. Especially use them at the eye level of the seated people in your living room.

Thanks to both. So you would recommend a solid color for the rug or you think it would be OK a rug with some "print" or several colors?

I agree with @meora to switch the futon and the chair. Your white table is good but seems too large for the space. I'd replace it with a smaller round or perhaps a rectangle about 12" wide. Where is your entry door? I'm asking because 1) I wonder if the bed area should be next to the window, and 2) it seems like you've given more space to the sleep area than your entertaining, relaxing area.. Do you have a small table for dining? This is an exciting project for you and i love you're using red to pull it off. Good luck!

Where you have a "patterned" floor already i would definitely go with a single color rug, but one that has some texture to it so that it doesn't show every speck of dirt on it.

@meora, why do you recommend changing locations for the sofa and chair? Here are more pictures where you see the entry door (close to the bed). I plan in the future to switch the sleeping area and the dining area so that's why I'm focusing on the living room, which will stay the same probably with the bookcase against one of the walls. I'd rather have the place for entertaining close to the window, which has a great view of the forest.

I swear this the apartment I had in DC - same parquet, same entry. IS that a large sliding door closet by the bed? Mine had one that size. Do you have a walk-through bath by the entry where you walk through a closet to get to the bath? The dining area is the only difference. Mine was more closed off than yours. It was called a "junior 1-bedroom" and the bedroom was the area where you have your table, The view was of the National Geographic building and I used it as a dining room. Sounds like your forest view is better.

Carolyn C

Hello Jacqueline. I'm going to throw a few suggestion at you and you can decide if they will work for you or not.

1. Consider removing the panels and putting blinds right into the windows. That will make your space seem larger. You could then move the plants up on to the sill, looks like it's a bit of a bay window, but hard to tell

2. Consider a black or red IKEA floating tv console with doors and then the TV mounted on the wall above - would reconsider lots of stuff on the wall around the tv as it's already a bit busy and that would make it more busy - you need some space for your eyes to "rest"

3. For your rug, make sure it's large enough or the space will seem tiny and try to make it have some of the floor colour in it mixed with some red and black - the less contrast, the larger the space will feel

4. Consider putting both of the open shelves on the wall opposite the bed and possibly the mirror mounted in between and then putting the tall black bookcase on the side wall of the dining area, or on the back wall of the dining area with the chairs on the two opposite sides (preferable if there is room)

It's a really tight space but if you streamline it a bit you will get the feeling that it is larger.

Hope these suggestions help.

Good luck.

Visual

Carolyn, thank you for the suggestions. Decoenthusiaste, the description of your DC apartment sounds like it could have been in my building up until you mention the National Geographic building, which is in downtown DC and I'm in the very NW of DC :-( By the way, I used to live across the NatGeo building a few years ago at a huge building at 1500 Massachusetts Ave NW. Your description also matches that building, except for the floor which was mostly carpeted there (unless not all units were alike). Thanks again to both for the advice :-)

Oh wow, just saw the "visual" Carolyn, thanks!

Jacqueline, your studio apartment looks an awful lot like a 300sq ft studio apartment we recently staged. Link below.

http://broadhousedesigninc.ca/projects/the-downtown/

Broadhouse Design, Wow! That is almost the exact floor plan of my apt! and you did a great job. Great ideas! I'm also looking at the other apartment "The Loft". Love the acqua walls and glass by the bed! Thanks!

You are welcome. Hope you post after photos. I understand why you put the bed where you did, keeping the eating area and family area together. I had thought about moving the bed to the other side as well, but then you are in the darkest side of the unit during your waking hours and you are splitting up the daytime spaces. I also thought of a curtain of some kind at the end of the bed and did a visual for it, but It just seemed to make it feel smaller. I'm assuming the cable is coming in where the TV currently is correct?

Thanks Carolyn. I'll post photos. Yes, cable comes out where the TV is right now.